Posted
by
samzenpuson Tuesday March 02, 2010 @02:58PM
from the go-ahead-and-have-another dept.

Kwang-il Kwon and Hye Gwang Jeong of Chungnam National University have discovered that drinking alcohol with oxygen bubbles added leads to fewer hangovers and a shorter sobering up time. People drinking the bubbly booze sobered up 20-30 minutes faster and had less severe and fewer hangovers than people who drank the non-fizzy stuff. Kwon said: "The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage reduces plasma alcohol concentrations faster than a normal dissolved-oxygen alcohol beverage does. This could provide both clinical and real-life significance. The oxygen-enriched alcohol beverage would allow individuals to become sober faster, and reduce the side effects of acetaldehyde without a significant difference in alcohol's effects. Furthermore, the reduced time to a lower BAC may reduce alcohol-related accidents."

I'm sold! I'll go check the local Uwajimaya (Asian superstore) for some of this. I don't even remember Soju being in liquor stores. Beer or sparkling wine have carbon dioxide, which it looks like doesn't count.

One goes to great lengths (for good reason) when bottling beverages to remove existing oxygen, and prevent introduction of new oxygen.If this technique for reducing hangovers becomes popular it will need to be done shortly before consumption. (Value-added service at the bar?)

Sorry, I'm not interested in drinking Natty Light piss water. The beers I like, mostly IPAs, have alcohol contents in excess of 6%. A solution to the problem does exist, though. It's called "everything in moderation."

Recently I became a licensed Scuba diver. One thing you learn in scuba diving classes is that you are more likely to get nitrogen poisoning if you are dehydrated, or had been drinking substantially the night before. Typically the way you do a first response treatment of nitrogen poisoning is by supplying pure oxygen.

I'm sure there's a Q.E.D. in there but I'm pretty sure I'm missing some steps.

This was my first reaction too. It would also require that the beer be pasteurized. Oxygenating (live) beer just gives the yeast more food. which it will then convert to CO2. It is a little more complicated than that, since the yeast needs sugar too. In any case you are seriously messing with the beer's chemistry. Perhaps a system where flat beer gets oxygenated just before serving would work. It might not make good beer, but is worth trying. Of course, I don't tend to drink enough beer to get hang-over drunk anyway. It just takes too long.

Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm. As the muscle contracts repeatedly, the opening between your vocal cords snaps shut to check the inflow of air, thus making the hiccup sound. Irritation of the nerves that extend from the neck to the chest can cause hiccups. Eating too quickly, drinking too much water after a workout (because your body wants oxygen when you're panting, not water, yet), or simply not getting enough oxygen (which is why holding your breath doesn't get rid of hiccups).

It's usually the presence of too much pressure on your diaphragm. Drinking water would add to that pressure and make it worse. However, using the restroom can help remove some of that pressure and in turn stop the hiccups.

Taking a few deep breaths can also help as it helps you to relax and allows the airflow to be monitored and the diaphragm to resync to "normal" function.

" I have to admit, shots of Everclear are a bit harsher than most drinks I've had.:)"

Yeah, but back in High School and College..it was the PERFECT stuff for a jungle juice party. You just have the price of admission be a pint or half pint of clear booze, preferably PGA (Everclear)...line a large trash can with plastic liners, fill with ice, booze and hawaiian punch (or something similar) and then, instant party. Man, you could get chicks trashed with that stuff quick too!! This was really great too if you had some type of theme with that party that had girls dress in bikinis or togas even...

The Guinness "widget" works because it doesn't require a trigger to release the nitrogen, the pressure change of opening the bottle/can does it. It's based off the fact that nitrogen won't dissolve into beer very easily. I don't think the same device would work with O2.

Yup - the yeast see all the O2 and sugars and start an aerobic party, rapidly reproducing over the next ~24 hours. Then the O2 runs out, the yeast say "oh, well" and start on the anaerobic after-party, producing (amongst other things) ethanol and CO2, When the sugar runs out, or the ethanol content reaches a certain level, the yeast roll over and go to sleep. You want as little O2 as possible in contact with the fermenting wort until you've bottled/kegged it, matured it and poured it.